The Science Fair
by Toodamnmanyfandoms
Summary: The science fair from Wilbur's point of view. Drabble.


Wilbur checked the date for the fourth time. Friday the 5th of July, 2007. Inventco's national Science Fair.

Which meant his dad should be there somewhere. A very weird thought, given that his dad-Cornelius Robinson of Robinson Industries- was on a business trip in the year 2037.

Time travel was a tricky business, one that Wilbur in no way claimed to understand. It was also, as his normally kind of flaky but chill dad had drilled into him hundreds of times, insanely dangerous and something he should never, ever do until he was much, much older. Which is why he absolutely had to get the other time machine back from the bowler hat guy, and he had to do it as soon as possible.

And who better to help him than his dad?

A moment later, he was snapped out of his thoughts by a very muscular man yelling at a kid in a white robe thing.

"Give me twenty laps around the gym! Go go go!"

He carefully sidled away, around the front of another science project.

He rounded the corner of the table, almost running into another kid wheeling something in a pushcart along behind him. He looked away to resume the search for his dad, then did a double take. That hair...those glasses... Could that be his dad?

He was very...small.

He quickly ducked out of sight as the kid-his dad-looked in his direction. Seeing his dad so young was the weirdest thing that he had ever lived through, and that was including the spring loaded Sausage incident.

He carefully followed his dad, making sure to stay out of sight as much as possible. When Cornelius (Lewis. He had to remember to call him Lewis, not Cornelius or dad. That would probably cause a few weird problems with the space-time continuum.)

He followed Lewis, hiding under the sheet with his invention. As he waited for Lewis to pick up and place the Memory Scanner on the table, he peeked at it to see what it looked like. To his surprise, it looked pretty much exactly the same as it did in the future.

The second he felt the Memory Scanner being placed onto the table, he grabbed Lewis and dragged him under the cover with him. As he did so, he realised he didn't really have any plans beyond 'Get dad to help get the other time machine back from the bowler hat guy without dad finding out' which, as a game plan, was incredibly confusing and also quite vague.

He babbled about being a time cop, and the man in the bowler hat, throwing in bits of random spy jargon he'd seen in old spy movies, to Lewis's increasing confusion.

He mumbled something about a perp, then leapt out from under the sheet, leaving behind a very confused young Cornelius Robinson.

He spotted a figure in a dark cloak wearing a bowler hat, and pounced-and immediately crashed into a kid holding a bunch of model planets and moons and knocked over a box full of...frogs. The past was weird.

He helped the little girl (she looked like she was eleven or so) collect up her frogs, while she chewed him out the whole time.

"Don't sass me boy, I know karate." She hissed at him menacingly. He doubted that, but didn't say anything. He had a feeling she was the type of person who could lecture for hours once she got going. Much like his mum, really.

Suddenly he noticed a crowd gathering. Around Lewis. He stood at the back of the crowd, still holding the frogs. He watched in awe as his dad put that familiar shiny metal bowl on his head and explained the science behind the invention-something which had always put Wilbur to sleep before now, but now had him enraptured, staring at this miniature version of his dad.

"First, you input the desired period of time on this keypad." He pointed to the little calculator number pad fixed onto the inside of the lunchbox. "Then, a laser scans your cerebral cortex, where memories are stored."

He gestured to the machine gracefully.

"Now I'm going back twelve years, three months, and eleven days."

"Why that particular day? You didn't think I was paying attention, didya?"

Asked the coach who was for some reason deemed qualified to judge a science fair. Wilbur knew, of course: That was the day the baby version of his dad was dropped off at the orphanage where he spent most of his childhood.

As his dad started up the machine, Wilbur noticed a bowler hat click past on little metal legs. His eyes widened in realisation.

He dropped all the frogs as he swung back to the machine, which was now rattling like crazy.

"Lewis! Wait!"

But Lewis was just noticing something was wrong; he turned to the machine in dismay as the turbine broke off from the top and flew away. As it crashed into one of the ceiling lights, another kids project (a model volcano) erupted, spewing hot lava like stuff everywhere. A third students fire ant farm spilled, and ants went everywhere, at the same time as the sprinklers going off. It was chaos! Lewis still had the bowl on his head, and he was staring off miserably into the distance. He threw the helmet off and ran out. Wilbur panicked and ran after him.

"Wait! Lewis!"

Oh, this was all his fault. If he hadn't left the garage door open, none of this would have happened.

As he ran after Lewis, Wilbur paused. He needed to get to the orphanage before Lewis, so he could get on the roof and lie in wait. He changed directions swiftly, running to the time machine. He furiously pressed buttons- and he was off. The roof of the orphanage ( his dad had said he went there to calm down), and set the clock for ten minutes ago.

Now, to wait.

Well. That happened. I seem to be briefly obsessed with Meet The Robinsons, as well as desperate to read something. If only I could write... ㈳6


End file.
